Trump's new conditions on DEI, immigration could cut off states' wildfire funding, give greater share of funds to red st

https://stateline.org/2026/05/01/trumps-new-conditions-on-dei-immigration-could-cut-off-states-wildfire-funding/

Trump’s new conditions on DEI, immigration could cut off states’ wildfire funding
Liberal states may be barred from Forest Service grants and projects if they don’t sign the new terms.

 A new effort to force states to affirm the Trump administration’s views on DEI, transgender athletes and immigration when signing contracts with the U.S. Forest Service is threatening millions of dollars in wildfire grant funding and fire reduction projects on federal lands.

Some liberal states can’t sign the documents because the policies clash with state law, forestry experts say.


Kevin Hood, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a nonprofit that advocates for public employees, said the new terms are aimed at directing a greater share of federal funding to Trump’s political allies.
“You’re going to see a bifurcation where you’ll have red states getting grants and blue states won’t,” he said.


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In the lawsuit, many state officials said that the new compliance requirements are so vague that they’re nearly impossible to follow. Several of the legal declarations note that the new conditions do not explain what it means to “promote gender ideology,” a practice the Department of Agriculture now seeks to ban.